Los Angeles Aztecs

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Los Angeles Aztecs

Full name	Los Angeles Aztecs
Founded	1974-1981
Ground	Weingart Stadium, East Los Angeles College (1974) Murdock Stadium, El Camino Junior College(1975-76) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum(1977, 1981) Rose Bowl (1978-80) (Capacity: 20,355 (East LA) 12,127 (El Camino) 92,594 (Coliseum) 92,542 (Rose Bowl))
Chairman	defunct
Manager	defunct
League	NASL
Home colours Away colours

Los Angeles Aztecs was a soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League from 1974-81. The team was based in Los Angeles, California and part-owned (for a time) by Elton John.

Contents 1 History 2 Honors 3 Notable players 4 Year-by-year 5 Average Attendance

[edit] History

The Aztecs are remembered for their mixed success and were sometimes compared to the New York Cosmos as the Cosmos of the West Coast. However, they did not draw nearly as well as the Cosmos, or even the Seattle Sounders, who were consistently the attendance leaders among the Western N.A.S.L. teams. They won the 1974 NASL Championship over the Miami Toros. In 1976, a fading George Best signed with the team and played from 1976 to 1978. In 1979 attendance peaked (with an average attendance of around 14,000) as Rinus Michels signed the Dutch superstar Johan Cruyff who went on to win the NASL Most Valuable Player Award in his one year with the Aztecs.

[edit] Honors

Champions

• 1974

Rookie of the Year

• 1979 Larry Hulcer

League MVP

• 1979 Johan Cruyff

[edit] Notable players

• Javier Aguirre
• Phil Beal (1977)
• George Best
• Colin Boulton (1979) [1]
• Colin Clarke (1978) [2]
• Charlie Cooke (1976-78)
• Johan Cruyff
• Teófilo Cubillas
• Chris Dangerfield (1979-81)
• Steve David
• Luis Fernando
• Graham Horn
• Larry Hulcer
• Poli Garcia
• Alan Kelley (1976)[3]
• Jimmy Kelly (1978)
• György Kottán (1979)
• Edgar Sorlino (1978)[4]
• Bobby McAlinden (1976-78)
• Terry Mancini (1977)
• Ane Mihailovich (1977)
• Hugo Perez
• Bob Rigby
• Thomas Rongen
• Dave Smith (1976)

[edit] Year-by-year

Year	Division	League	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Open Cup
1974	1	NASL	1st, Western	Champions	Did not enter
1975	1	NASL	3rd, Pacific	Quarterfinals	Did not enter
1976	1	NASL	3rd, Pacific Southern	1st Round	Did not enter
1977	1	NASL	3rd, Pacific Southern	Semifinals	Did not enter
1978	1	NASL	4th, National Western	Did not qualify	Did not enter
1979	1	NASL	2nd, National Western	Conference Semifinals	Did not enter
1979/80	N/A	NASL Indoor	5th, Western	Did not qualify	N/A
1980	1	NASL	2nd, National Western	Conference Championships	Did not enter
1980/81	N/A	NASL Indoor	1st, Western	1st Round	N/A
1981	1	NASL	2nd, Western	1st Round	Did not enter

[edit] Average Attendance

• 1974: 5,098
• 1975: 8,307
• 1976: 8,051
• 1977: 9,638
• 1978: 9,301
• 1979: 14,334
• 1980: 12,057
• 1981: 5,814